Thursday, September 14, 2006

As the Nazis marched across Europe in 1939 and 1940, a Unitarian minister from Massachusetts and his wife rushed into the coming Holocaust to save Jews and other refugees, including dozens of children.

For their heroism, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will dedicate plaques today in memory of Waitstill and Martha Sharp. They are only the second and third U.S. citizens named to an honor roll of 21,000 "righteous" gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews.

I know many of you know my aunt Martha as an archeology teacher from Brown. When I was much younger I heard some vague stories about what her parents had done during WW II to help refugees across the border. I found as a child I would hear these sort of stories and they wouldn't completely make sense. I knew there was a War at some point. I sort of knew what a refugee was. I had an image of people taking a hike in the woods across some imaginary "border". Now being older and having a (slightly) better understanding of World War II and what it was about, I read this story in a whole new light. It was damn impressive of them.